Live Correspondent: The Green Genius Season 3 Award Giving Ceremony, hosted by Green Planet Club in association with the Department of Environmental Science & Management under the School of Environmental & Life Sciences at Independent University, Bangladesh was held on Sunday (27 March 2022) at the Auditorium of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), in its campus in Bashundhara R/A.

Awards were presented to the winners and runner ups in the presence of a large number of participants, students, club ambassadors, guardians, volunteers, and guests. Eminent Lawyer, Environmental activist, and Winner of the International Women of Courage Award 2022 by the US Department of Senate, and Chief Executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association Ms. Syeda Rizwana Hasan graced the ceremony as the Chief Guest. Professor Niaz Ahmed Khan, Pro-Vice Chancellor of IUB was present as the Guest of Honor. 

Intekhab Alam, Managing Director of Novelty Infrastructure was present as the Special Guest. The ceremony began with a song with an environmental theme by the Club members. Dr K Ayaz Rabbani, Head and Associate Professor of the Department of Environmental Science and Management delivered the welcome speech. Bringing environmentally sustainable ideas from the leaders of tomorrow – with this vision, Green Genius Season 3 received ideas from more than 400 students from more than 50 educational institutes from Bangladesh and abroad.

After the initial screening, 60 participants in two categories (School/College and University) presented their ideas in a Symposium held on 13March 2022. A panel of 35 judges from various organizations including ActionAid Bangladesh, BRAC University, ARCED Foundation, iFarmer, Teach for Bangladesh, Makeateam, BUET and IUB assessed the ideas and selected the winners. The winner of the Green Genius Season 3 from School and College category was Muhammed Mohiuddin Sourav from Adamjee Cantonment College.

He presented an outstanding idea of "making cash from trash" by addressing consumer behavioral aspects. Reeshan Ahmed from Khulna University swept away the winner’s crest from the University Category with his idea of making baby food from locally grown jackfruit to tackle under consumption of locally grown fruits.

The first Runner Up from School and College category was Zayena Farin Shahed from Scholastica and she impressed the judges with her idea of introducing a deposit return scheme for plastic wastes. The 2nd Runner Up, Yafas Eusha from Dhaka College amazed the judges with his idea of technical solutions to address air pollution.  Ayaz Kader from South Breeze School enticed the judges by exhibiting his courage being the youngest participant, at only 12 years old, and was awarded the ‘The Courage Award.’ From North South University, Mohammad Zaed Iqbal Khan won the second prize for his idea of an app-based solution for climate action.

Under the University category, Tonmoy Das of IUB received the 2nd Runner Up prize with his unique idea of ensuring sustainable use of water using capillary action process. Aruna Bangura from African Leadership University, Rwanda and Waleed Mashrequi from Independent University, Bangladesh were awarded special mention awards as well.

 In her speech, Chief Guest, Syeda Rizwana Hasan stressed on the need of environmental resource management while focusing on the ecosystem services adding value to human well-being. She thanked the Department of Environmental Science and Management and the Green Planet Club for organizing such an event for environmental aspirers. The Guest of Honor of the Ceremony, Professor Niaz Ahmed Khan, Pro-Vice Chancellor of IUB also applauded the spirit of volunteerism for making such events and thanked the partners for coming forward to provide unconditional support for environmental causes.

The program ended with a closing remark delivered by Md. Ekhetkharul Islam, Club Co-coordinator of Green Planet Club & Senior Lecturer, the Department of Environmental Science and Management, IUB. Novelty Infrastructures Ltd., ActionAid Bangladesh, Teach For Bangladesh, iFarmer Asia, ARCED Foundation, Global Changemakers, Grow Events, Green and Beyond were partners of this event. Prothom Alo was the Associate partner of this Event.

Dhaka, 27 March (campuslive24.com)//bic